Sign



J. P. FOX

SIGN

Filed Dec. 18, 1929 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 16, 1932 JOSEPH 1?. FOX, OF ST. CLOUD, MINNESOTA SIGN Application filed December 18, 1929.

This invention appertains to improvements in signs generally, and more particularly to a type thereof adapted for outdoor use, especially for place, roadway and street designation and direction indication.

An object of the invention is to provide a sign board or panel of an open metal frame construction, wherein letters and/or characters embodied therewith will be in relief or skeleton form and spaced apart one from the other within the opening in the frame and from the opposed portions of the latter, in order to afford maximum visibility at all times and from the opposite sides of the frame, reduced wind resistance in stormy weather and to prevent any appreciable accumulations of snow and ice thereon such as would otherwise tend to obscure the letters or characters and to render the same il- 29 legible.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of interchangeable markers or indicators for attachment to one end or the other of a sign board or panel as aforesaid,

in order to convey to observers the direction of a place, or the lay or trend of a roadway 01' street designated by a particular sign board or panel.

A further object of the invention is to pro- 30 vide a simple but durable and effective form of support for one or more of the sign units and which will be of comparatively low initial cost and inexpensive and easy to install M and maintain.

Another object of the invention lies in the provision of a means for mounting a number of the sign units on a single support aforesaid. and in a proper relation to designate a corresponding number of intersecting roadways or streets, or to indicate distances to given points along a particular roadway or street.

With the foregoing and other equally important objects and advantages in View, the

invention resides in the certain new and useful combination, construction and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, set forth in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Serial No. 415,039.

Figure 1 is a perspective View of a practical embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical section through the upper end portion of the support per se;

Figure 3 is a perspective View of one of the interchangeable mountings per se; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary end portion of one of the sign units, showing a direction marker or indicator attached thereto.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views thereof, the embodiment of the invention as shown therein by Way of example, is constituted, in part, in a sign board or panel made up of an open frame 10 having a required number of related letters and/or characters supported in proper order within the opening therein. These letters and/or characters are preferably of skeleton form and are held in properly spaced relation Within the opening by means of attaching members 12 extending between the ends of the same and the adjacent side portions of the frame.

In the preferred make up of a sign unit, the frame 10 together with the letters and/or characters 11 and the attaching members 12, are cast in one'piece from a suitable metal, preferably aluminum which will not rust or otherwise deteriorate from exposure to any and all kinds of weather conditions. The attaching portions 12 will thus be in the form of webs of the metal and are preferably of a thickness suflicient only to lend a proper rigidity to the structure.

The invention is further constituted in a support for one or more of the side boards or panels, as thus constructed and arranged and the same consists of a post 13, which is preferably made from a suitable length of tubular metal stock set up in the ground alongside of a roadway or street, or at the, point of intersection of two or more roadways or streets, as the case may be. Fitted over the upper end of the post 13 is a caplike support 14:, diametrically of the upper end of which a channel-way is formed between a pair of upstanding parallel flanges iii:

15. The supporting cap 14 is preferably secured in position on the post 13 by having screw threaded connection therewith and may be further secured thereto by means of a set screw or the like 16. The upper side of the cap 14, below the flanges 15, will preferably be formed to: provide a shouldered portion or boss17 for the engagement therewith of a suitable wrench in order to facilitate the removal and replacement of the cap from and into secured position onthe post.

In use, a sign board or panel will have the lower side of the frame portion 10 thereof set on edge in the channel-way and. will be secured therein by means of suitable fastenings 1:8,such as rivets or the like, passing through alinedi openings formed on the flanges 15. and the engaged portion of theframe 10..

In order to install two or more of the sign boards in position on a single supporting post-13, it is intended that the same be arranged in& superposed relation, either in line or at an angle one with respect to'the other, and for the purpose a. connector or mounting 19 is provided, which has a pair of spaced parallel flanges 20' formed oneach of its upper and lower sides for the engagement of the adjacent side portions of the sign frames 10 in the channel-ways between the same. These pairs of flanges 20 are arranged to dispose the channel-ways thereof dlametri- Cally of the complemental upper and lower sides of. a connector or mounting 19 and either in line one with the other, or at various angles so that the sign boards orpanels may be supported in position substantially parallel to the roadway or street to be designated thereby. 1

Thus after the first of'several selected sign boards or panels is placed in position on the supporting cap 14 as aforesaid, a. connector orm'ountinglt) will have the channel-way at its lower side engaged over the top side of the frame 10 of the placed sign board or panel and the side flanges 20 thereof secured thereto, preferably at the center of the frame, by means of rivets or the like 3 the said flanges 20" having pairs of alined openings 21 formed in the same for thereception of the latter, 'substa-ntially as shown. iinilarly, the channel-way at the upper side of the connector or mounting 19 will then have the lower side of the frame 10 of the next selected sign board or panel seated in the same and the side flanges 20, forming the latter, secured in place. By this method and means of mounting, any number of the signs may be grouped together on a single supporting post, in parallel relation or at various angles one with respect to the other in plain view of passersby and in a manner which will be both attractive and effective.

In order to indicate direction, markers or pointers 22, preferably in the form of arrow heads, are provided, and the same are made of metal, such as aluminum, and are each formed with an offset shouldered portion 23 at the rear end thereof for alined seating engagement on either of the opposite vertical sides of the frame 10 of a sign board or panel, and are secured in suchposition by means of suitable fastenings 24, such as: rivets or the likeas. shown. These markers or pointers may be variously marked with letter designations corresponding to different points of the compass after the manner as shown at 24 in Figure 4.

From; the foregoing it is to be noted that the construction and arrangement stated for the invention, provides. for place, roadway and street markers which wilLbe ornamental in appearance,.legible in. allkinds ofweather from. either of theopposite sides of the same, and by the open nature-ofthe" make-up of the sign boards or panelswill ofl'eributlittle resistance tothewind orsurface for the accumulation thereon of snow and ice, such as would otherwise tend to obscure and render the sign illegible. Such accumulations of snow as might adhere temporarily tothe 0pposite surface of the skeleton form of sign, asthus provided will tend to render the data more distinct and legiblein stormy weather, rather; than to the. contrary since its letters and/ or characterswill remain in outline and the open spaces about the same will prevent the snow and/or iceforming an: obscuring sheet over the entire area of the sign.. It is to be further noted that the extreme simplio ity of construction and design of the several parts of the invention makes for low cost in manufacture, as well as. for installation and maintenance, and that in the use of a metal such as aluminum, painting or otherwise coating the sign boards or panels will not be necessary to render the samelegible over long periods of use.

Without further description, it. is thought that the features and advantages. of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course bounderstood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the I claim:

1. In a sign: support, a disk like body portion having a pair of spaced parallel flanges extending from each of its faces: and said flanges having aligned apertures for reception of fastening means.

2. In a sign support, a disk like body portion having a pair of spaced parallel flanges extending from each of its faces with the flanges on one face bearing an angular relation to the flanges on the other face and said flanges having aligned apertures for reception of fastening means.

3. In a sign, a supporting post, a cap spirit of the invention or its'scope as claimed.

threaded upon the post, a pair of spaced parallel flanges on the cap, said flanges having aligned apertures for reception fastening means, a sign having an apertured edge seated between the flanges, a connector, having a pair of spaced parallel flanges extending from each of two opposite sides thereof, seated upon the sign With one of its pairs of flanges engaging the upper edge of the sign, a second sign having its lower apertured edge seated between the other pair of flanges on the connector, and said flanges having apex tures for registry with the aperture of said signs for reception of fastening means.

JOSEPH P. FOX. 

